Hey there,
I am currently a 7th grade student who is interested in joining a boarding school. I really wanted to go to a school like Andover or Exeter, but it seems like they don’t really have a lot of classes for people interested in pursuing business in the future. What boarding schools do have great programs for students like me?
Take a look at The Masters School in Dobbs Ferry, NY. They have an outstanding entrepreneurship program already, with further growth and expansion mapped out for the years ahead: https://www.mastersny.org/academics/innovation-engineering–entrepreneurship
Honestly, the curriculum at all of these boarding schools is very prescriptive with core requirements for four years of language, science, math, and some form of English language/lit/writing. You will have very little time for electives, possibly not until late junior or senior year. High school is about getting a great foundation for college, not “majoring” in any subject area. You’ll have plenty of time for that kind of focus in college. Often at BS, specialty areas are addressed by clubs you can join or start, but specialization is not the purpose of most boarding schools though they all prepare students well in all the areas critical to success in college and beyond.
Totally agree. Thanks for the advice 
@mssweeteaa I think one of the best things about attending BS is the ability to meet like minded peers. These relationships might serve you well in the future. I am aware of many entrepreneurs who attended PEA over the years. Everything from kids who developed successful apps to Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook fame. And I am sure that many BS have similar examples. BS will develop your critical thinking abilities which are super important for entrepreneurs. I would focus less on the specifics and more on the general at your age. Best of luck!!
@mssweeteaa
I’ll offer a different perspective.
While I do agree that HS is not about specializing yet, I would suggest that looking for some strong entrepreneurial programming or club support would be akin to finding a school that was strong in any area of interest, such as a sport or a performing art. Most folks aren’t “majoring” in squash, but if it’s their love, it would make complete sense to seek out a school that at least offered some way to support that interest.
I say all of this because my DD is also an entrepreneur, and so we definitely asked about ways to support that love while in school.
What we discovered: Many schools have this as an EC (which we expected, and are fine with). The level of EC involvement varied – some had an entrepreneurship club, while some had more than one (e.g. the addition of “women entrepreneurs”). Some schools had actual programs – such as Kent (“pre-college business” program), and NMH has a social entrepreneurship program, if that interests you, and the option to work a bit with their maple and lavender farm. There were a couple others that we eliminated for other reasons. (I want to say Episcopal might have had something that sounded cool?)
Some schools had no club at all, but almost all of them said “you can always start a club here!” While there are upsides to that experience, this plan was, for my DD, a bit of a drawback. Not a dealbreaker but a drawback that there wasn’t a critical mass of interest already in the school.
Bottom line: the larger schools like Andover and Exeter seemed to have more support in this area generally speaking, but a number of schools had at least a club. Some didn’t, but you could start one, if you are interested in that path. And, there are a few schools that had a specific business or entrepreneurship program, but not many. Lastly, I’ll add that in general the schools with the wider course catalogs had electives that might support the entrepreneurial path quite well, but note that most were for upper classmen, so DD imagined she might be part of a club starting from day one, and then take a class later on in her 3rd or 4th year.
I hope that helps!
My kid attended a BS that offers a co-curricular program of study in science and engineering. It’s a 4 year program and they are on a trimester calendar, so she had the opportunity to take a number of electives in advanced science and math, computer programming, robotics, electrical and structural engineering, etc. This was in addition to the usual academic requirements, so the workload was definitely increased… but it was a great fit for her. Without that program and the early exposure to those subjects, I don’t think she would have ended up at a tech university.
You don’t need a special program at boarding school to become an entrepreneur! Did you know that Instagram and Next Door were both founded by Middlesex grads?
Or that Beyond Meat was founded by a George School grad?
I think that any BS can set any future entrepreneur off in the right direction. You will meet all kinds of people. You’ll practice putting your energy into things that excite you. You’ll get a chance to collaborate and consult with people who have expertise and opinions that will help you. You’ll become comfortable speaking in front of people. If there’s an initiative you want to take at BS -even if it’snotbusinessrelated -, it’s usually possible.
I don’t think that any one school will necessarily set you up better.
@gardenstategal Yep, the educational tools any BS provides will likely translate into being an entrepreneur if you so choose. Listing someone who started some huge company ( like Facebook, etc) has zero impact on whether the school taught them entrepreneurial skills. im